Take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 John, please. 1 John. I'm excited about this new series that we're going to be starting and kicking off this morning through these five chapters. Just following our trek through the New Testament and just finishing 2 Peter last week. Lord willing, I was praying about what to preach on Sunday nights and was going to start a series in the book of Genesis as well for Sunday evenings. But I believe that we're just going to keep going on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights through 1st John. And then we may go to 2nd, 3rd John. And I'm not saying that we'll go right on through to the book of Revelation, but we may eventually end up back in Genesis. But right now, I just felt impressed to start this series and then continue it on Sunday evenings as well. So I trust you'll be back for the 7 o'clock hour. This is a great study that I've really embarked on for myself. You know, they say the teacher always learns more than the student. And I am really privileged by you as the congregation affording me the privilege of studying messages like this and being able to give them to you as I get to chew on the food first. And I trust that as we go through this particular book that it will really enrich your life as well. There are five keys. to experiencing God's love found in 1 John. And 1 John is written to believers. And so when you go into this book, you need to go with the idea that God is speaking directly to you. And I trust that you've brought some paper or an ink pen, and if you don't mind writing in the margin of your Bible, I would encourage you to take some notes through this series, because if you look at chapter 1 and verse 4, you see here that John says, These things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. And that word full carries the idea of not just filled to the brim, but filled to overflowing. And that's the way the Christian life is to be lived. We are to experience God's fullness of joy. The psalmist said in Psalm 23, My cup runneth over. And so as we look at the Christian life, we ought to be experiencing day by day God's love in such a way where it just fills us and it just sort of spills out. And so many times we're trying to work things up today. We're trying to work up hospitality. We're trying to work up our love and so on. And yet it falls flat. And yet if we just get in love with God and experience His fullness, then it will just spill out in everyday shoe leather. Out of respect for the Word of God, let's all stand for the reading, please. I took the time and liberty yesterday, and in my office, I timed myself reading aloud these five chapters. Now, we're not going to do it in this hour, so you can relax. But it took me about 14 minutes from start to finish, paying attention to the commas and the periods and pausing between the chapters to read these five chapters. And I want to encourage you as we begin this series, maybe in your personal devotions, to try to find some time this week Fourteen, fifteen minutes to read these five chapters. And I believe that as you begin to read through these five chapters and you come to church and we seek to be fed by the Holy Spirit of God through His Word, I believe that you'll be enriched by this and we'll be more like Jesus and the song that the men sang will be personalized in our life that we may know Him. Amen? What I'm going to ask us to do is read responsibly. I don't normally do that, but these ten verses, we're going to read the first chapter, and I'll read the first verse, and you join me on the second, I'll read the third, you join me on the fourth, and so on. 1 John 1, verse 1 says, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank You for the blessed Word of God. Lord, how we're reminded in the Psalms that You say that You've chosen to magnify Your Word above Your name. Lord, You tell us in Psalm 119 that forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in heaven. And Lord, I pray that as we preach the Word, that Lord, it would fall on good ground. And Lord, if there's someone here that does not know Jesus Christ as personal Savior, may the convicting power of the Holy Spirit of God come upon them. Lord, I pray that they'd say yes, that they would yield to the wooing of the Holy Spirit this morning. Dear God, I pray for those of us who are saved. Lord, I pray that something might be said in the message this morning that would help us in our walk. And Lord, may we be more like Jesus. In Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. The New Testament is 27 books and is divided into sections. When you look at the Gospels, it takes in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Then it's referred to as Paul's Epistles, which takes in Romans through to Philemon. Then you get to a section of the New Testament called the General Epistles. Then, of course, the Bible ends with the prophetic book of the New Testament, which is the book of Revelation. We've been preaching through 1 and 2 Peter and they are part of the general epistles. The reason for that is because as Paul's epistles were addressed to churches, we have the indication that the general epistles were written to Jews in general. And yet at the same time, if you look and study 2 and 3 John, you almost get the impression that John was writing to a church or to a sister church. Many historians believe that John was the pastor at the church at Ephesus towards the end of his life. But needless to say, as we get into this book, it's primarily written to the Jews that were scattered throughout the then known world. Just by way of review, you know from our study of 1 and 2 Peter that the church at Jerusalem had grown to such a point where they got comfortable in their surroundings. God, in Acts chapter 8, allowed persecution to come, and the Jews were scattered throughout the then-known world. And the Bible says they went everywhere preaching the gospel. Sometimes we have the idea in our western mentality that persecution is bad, but we find when it comes to the point of the gospel, persecution has always been good for the church. It's been a purifier of the church. It's also helping that that's what happened. But the Jews were encountering some difficulty in their walk with the Lord because of those adverse circumstances. And so these writers were addressing particular needs. The Gospel of John, as we look at these books, or this book of 1 John, we find that John was the author, the penman I should say, of five of the New Testament books. He wrote the Gospel of John, he wrote 1, 2, and 3 John, as well as the book of Revelation. So John is a special Bible character. I find it interesting that the three of the inner circle of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find them writers of some of the New Testament books. You have Peter, you have James, and you have John. And they were all apostles in essence to the Jew, and so they were writing with a Jewish flavor. It doesn't mean that it's not important for us today. It's an amazing thing when we look at the Word of God sometimes, and we say, well, it wasn't written to me, so it's not that important. And yet all the Word of God is for us. Amen? And we need to study it, we need to apply those truths and those principles to our life, and that's what we're going to seek to do. But I find that Peter, James, and John wrote with a real practical step to their writings. And what I mean by that is they didn't believe in just professing Christianity, they believed in living out that Christianity. So if there were ever some books that were applicable to us today and needed today, it would be these books. James, he wrote, living right in the midst of various temptations. If you look at James chapter 1, he talks about endiver's temptations. Peter said that you ought to live right in the midst of fiery trials or persecutions. And John here says that you ought to live right in the midst of heresy and false teaching. Now, if you don't mind writing in your Bibles, I put here the theme is true love drives sin out by obedience to the commands of Scripture. I know that's rather lengthy, but I'll say it again. True love drives sin out by obedience to the commands of Scripture. For you and I to be what God wants us to be and experience the fullness of joy, then we have to deal with the sin problem in our life. You say, but Pastor, I already did that. I trusted Christ as my Savior. I'm not talking about before you got saved. Yes, I know that you dealt with the sin problem, and Jesus Christ, when you asked Him to forgive you of your sin and come into your life and save you, He did that. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. But yet you know, and I know, that since you've trusted Christ as Savior, there have been those struggles, there have been those sins that you have had to deal with. In Hebrews chapter 12 it says that we ought to lay aside every weight And the sin which does so easily beset us, so even Christians sin. Christians deal with sin. Yes, we may have been forgiven of the penalty of sin, but we're not relieved yet from the presence of sin, right? And so this is something that we live and have to contend with on a day-by-day and even a moment-by-moment basis. And so true love that is talked about in these five chapters drives sin out by obedience to the commands of the Scripture. And as we mentioned, that's the theme. The key verse is verse 4. And the purpose of the writing of this book is that your joy may be full. The world is searching for happiness. Even Christians are searching for happiness. And this book tells us, as I mentioned at the beginning, the five keys to happiness or joy in the Christian life. Now, before I get into really the nitty-gritty of these five chapters, I want to just deal with the man John this morning and just lay that foundation. I don't know about you, but I'd like to know a little bit about the person or the personality that God used in the penning of the book. And the thing that gets me is that God chose men. Amen? He chose flesh and blood. He chose fallen humanity to be involved in His great work. And I think it's always a miracle when we see Elijah. I mean, he parts the water and walks over on dry ground, he and Elisha. We see Elisha performing the miracle again. We see Elisha coming after the prophet has dropped the axe head in the water, and he causes, by sticking a stick into the water, the axe head to swim and come to him again. Miracle after miracle, we find Bible characters performing. And I find it interesting that God would use fallen humanity to be involved as a co-labor together. Here, perfection chooses to use imperfection. In other words, God wants to use us. And that's always been a marvel to me. Someone has said, the greatest ability is availability. And another has said, the greatest ability is dependability. And yet another one has said, the greatest ability is usability. And that's what I find about these Bible characters. They were available and they were usable. They not only said, here my Lord, send me, they were in a position to actually be used by God. They were available to God, and then they were also usable by God. What an important, if you don't get anything else out of the message, this would be meat enough for us to dwell on for the rest of the week. Number one, are we available to God? Number two, are we usable by God? You see, a lot of people say, well, I've got certain stipulations that I have in my life. There's some things I want to accomplish. And then I'll give God the leftovers. Well, God wants you right now. God wants to be in control of your life. And as we've said so often, He made the worlds. And He knows what you need better than you know what you need. And He can do a much better job at guiding your life than you can. And the best thing you and I can do is say, Lord, here am I. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth," as Samuel said. Oh, you know, he kept running to Eli. Eli, you called? Eli, you called? Eli, you called? And finally Eli got the message. He wasn't calling Samuel, but he said, next time you hear that voice, you just say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And we find today Christians running here and yawn, and they're looking towards this source and that source, trying to find direction. Well, maybe if I follow this course of study, then I'll find fulfillment. They get there and then they realize, that's just not what I thought it was going to be. And so, now I'm going to switch gears and I'm going to go over here. And they're constantly flitting here, flitting there. And yet God says, I'll guide you. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Amen? So I ask you, are you available to God? Well, you know, I'm involved in this career here. I've got these business encumbrance, and so I just can't do it right now. I'll do it two years from now. I'll do it four years from now. I'll do it ten years from now. I'll do it later on. And God says, no. I've got a plan now. I want to reach the world now. I mean, He commands all men everywhere to repent. He says, today is the day of salvation. In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us that we ought to live life realizing that Jesus Christ could come back right now. And so we need to be available to God. God, here am I. And then we have to be usable. That means we have to prepare ourselves. That means we have to be clean. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. God's not going to use dirty vessels. If you won't use a dirty fork in the restaurant, if you won't drink from a dirty glass, why would God want to use a dirty vessel? And so we need to be usable. We need to be available. Amen? I trust that you'll consider those two points. If God, as He's looking to and fro to find someone whose heart is right towards Him, perfect towards Him, does His eyes stop at you? Do His eyes stop at me? Say, there's someone who's available, and not only that, they're usable, and I will use them. Now, I want us to notice three points concerning John The disciple whom Jesus loved, and that's a special phrase. We find John using that in the Gospel of John three times. The disciple whom Jesus loved. Now it's interesting, John wrote that book. But God moved him to write those words. God knew that John loved Jesus. But Jesus also had a special relationship with John. And so as you read these five chapters, one thing that's going to come back to you time and time again is the word love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Two times in chapter 4 verse 8 and chapter 4 verse 16, the phrase is used, God is love. God is love. And so he tells us that God is love and tells us how to experience that love on a day-by-day basis. And there's not a single one of us that don't like to be loved. We like to be loved. Amen? We like to be loved. Don't you like to be loved? Well, God loves you. And He doesn't want to just tell you that so you hear it with your ears. He wants you to experience that. It's one thing for my wife to say, Mike, I love you. It's another thing for her to put her arms around me and say, Mike, I love you. It takes her a long time to get her arms around me, but I'm trying to work on that. But you know, that's one thing that God wants us not just to hear it and know it up here. He wants us to experience that love in every day area of life. Number one, and when we look at John, I want us to see that John was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. John was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go to Matthew chapter 4. Now, many times when you look at the history of the New Testament church, you go to the book of Acts. That is the history book of the New Testament. When you're trying to find out how some of the Bible writers were used, you find some of their early ministry and their early life mentioned in the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And here we find that John was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, at this particular juncture, as you look at chapter 4, had trusted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. John the Baptist had done his job. John the Baptist was a forerunner. He was about six months older than the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's said that he came to prepare a way for the Lord. He was a voice crying in the wilderness, and he was just trying to get the material together for the starting of the local New Testament church, because in God's plan, There was that realization that the nation of Israel, God's chosen people, would reject Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And so with that rejection of Jesus Christ, that's why the Lord Jesus instituted the local church, and why we have local congregations today. It wasn't just a man sat down and said, hey, let's build a church. Let's gather some people together, let's put a sign out front and say it's a church. No, it's the work of Jesus Christ. He is the one, He says, upon this rock, pointing to Himself, He said, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He wasn't pointing to Peter. If you just look at the grammatical structure of that passage of Scripture, you'll see that He was pointing and mentioning Himself. Peter, in fact, means a stone. And Jesus, according to the book of Ephesians, is called the foundation. Amen? 1 Corinthians chapter 3. There's not another foundation that can be laid in an individual's life but Jesus Christ. And then men build on that foundation, you see. And so the local churches we have evident today, Jesus Christ laid the foundation. He is the foundation. And then we have been building on that foundation. We have to be careful. The local church, this church, has to be careful that we build according to the pattern given to us in the Word of God. Amen? It doesn't mean it's free from problems because even the local church that we find the early apostles involved in had problems, but they dealt biblically with their problems. Amen? Are you with me? But here we find that John was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so Jesus' message was the same as John. Folks, people have always gotten saved the same way. All the way back in the book of Genesis, it says that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. In other words, they look forward to the cross. We look back at the cross. To me, it's a lot easier for us today to be saved just by sheer human understanding because the resurrection or the crucifixion is a historical fact. And here you have the Old Testament people looking towards the promise of the coming Messiah. And it was yet to be fulfilled. It was yet to come. And so I find it interesting that we think we have it tough, or it's hard to get people to understand in this day and time. How about in the Old Testament when Jesus hadn't even been born yet? Amen? And so we find that all through the ages, God's people have trusted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. They looked forward. That Lamb that was slain in the Old Testament ritual was a picture of Jesus Christ coming. That perfect, that Lamb without spot, without blemish. That perfect one. He would shed His blood. His blood would be poured out. The life of the flesh is in the blood. Amen? And then we find that by putting their faith and trust in the coming Messiah, that picture, they would be saved. And now we look back at that Lamb who was slain in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? My, what a wonderful story of love for God indeed so loved the world. That He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Isn't that great? Amen. Praise the Lord. But we find here that John was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. So John was saved. But it didn't just stop there. We find that he was available And he was usable. And we find here in chapter 4, verse 21, that John was called for special service. Look at verse 21. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And one thing is, you travel through the Gospels, you find that Time and time again, John stayed close to Jesus. I mean, where you found Jesus, you found John. It even said that there when they were eating that John was right there close to Jesus, right by his side. He was a companion. Amos 3.3 says, can two walk together except they be agreed? They were in agreement. You say, but Judah spent some time with him, but he didn't stay with him. John stayed with him. Amen? He was a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you a companion of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know Jesus Christ is your personal Savior? He wants to save you. He desires you to experience that love. But God commendeth His love toward us. In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Number two, I see this about John. He was consecrated to Jesus. And I just read that in verse 22, and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed him. If you jump up to verse 18, he also called Simon Peter and Andrew his brother. And they were casting the net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. So here we find that John not only was a saved individual, He not only was following Him as far as the Messiah, He said, I want to consecrate my life to Jesus. I want to be especially dedicated, devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I find it interesting that when God called Him, He answered immediately. You notice that? I encourage you to go through your Bible sometimes, and every time you read through the Gospels and go into the book of Acts, how many times do they say, straightway, immediately, right away? We put all kinds of stipulations. As I mentioned before, we say, well, you know, I'll do it in two years. I've got this agenda. I've got this program I'm involved in, and so we've got to put it off. No, immediately. Here they are. They're involved in the family business. Here they are, fishing. They're tending their nets. Jesus is just walking by and says, follow me. And they didn't say, well, let's go and check our bank account. What kind of encumbrances do we have? What's the wife going to say? What's the children going to say? What's everybody else going to say? How are we going to make this thing work? You know what they did? Immediately. Immediately. Immediately. Immediately. When God calls, He wants immediate obedience. Amen? Now look at it. It says, and immediately they left the ship and their father and followed Him. They fought, and then we have an account for the next three and a half years where they were right there with Jesus Christ just about every moment of every day. They saw every miracle performed. I mean, they ate with Jesus. They slept in the same place of Jesus. I mean, everywhere that Jesus went, those disciples were sure to go. They followed Him. They were devoted to Him. And you know one thing you find about John? He was with Jesus at those special times. We find him in Matthew chapter 17. He's on the Mount of Transfiguration. You find him in the Garden of Gethsemane in Matthew chapter 26. You find him. An astounding event takes place. Jesus is hanging on the cross. He sees the witnesses down there as they're passing by. And he sees his mother Mary. And he sees John. And he says, John, behold your mother. Mom, behold your son. Jesus paused as he was paying the sin debt and said, John, you take care of my mom. Isn't that something? I mean, here is the Son of God. Trusting John, the beloved disciple, to such an extent knew that, hey, John just doesn't talk about loving me. He loves me. And I can trust Him. And you know, when you love somebody, they can be trusted. Right? But when you doubt someone's love, you don't trust them as far as you can throw them. And as Jesus is going through that terrible time on the cross, as the Father is just about ready to turn His back, and we'd hear those words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He pauses through all that, the pain and the agony of the thorns on His brow, and the nails in His hand and His feet, and He says, John, take care of my mother. Oh, He could have done it from heaven, but He said, hey, I use people. And I'm going to use John. John, you take care of my mom. Wow. These special times in the life of Jesus, John was right. I think if anyone could write on experiencing the fullness of joy in the Christian life, and can write on every day experiencing the love of God, I think John is qualified, don't you? My! I mean, when I studied this out, and I looked at this, I said, wow! Just to be able to dive into this book, after just knowing a little bit about this man, John, is going to be an exciting trek for us. Amen? Whew! I ask you this question. Are we consecrated unto Jesus? Are we devoted to the Lord Jesus Christ? As Jesus awaits the Word from the Father to come for us in the rapture of the church, you say, hey, there's one of my devoted followers. There's someone that loves me and I love them and I can trust them. I'll give them a job to do. I'll give them a responsibility to fulfill. John, the beloved, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was consecrated. Lastly, I see this about John. He was a support column of the church, or in other words, he was a pillar of the church. We talk about someone being a pillar of the community. And that means we say that he is one of those that really makes the community be what it is. We look at the back of the auditorium and we find three support posts. We call them pillars, if you please. They are the support. They hold the structure together. And when you look in the Word of God, you find that John was one of these type of individuals in regards to the local church. You see, when the local church was in trouble, John was one of the ones that was called on to fix it. Let's go to the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians. Chapter 2. As you know from a study of the book of Acts in chapter 15, the Judaizers started infiltrating the local church. Of course, that was a prophecy that was being fulfilled. Paul said, look, when I depart, grievous wolves are going to come into the church. They're going to be circling. Then disciples will arise from your midst, seeking to lead people away after them. There's going to be some problems, he said. And so we find that there in Acts chapter 15, these Judaizers came down and they said, look, unless you're circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can't be saved. They were starting to say, look, you've got to hang on to your salvation. You've got to work to be saved. And as we've said so often, this is why the gospel is worth contending for, even in our generation. Because you may sit there today saying, well, I'm saved, I'm on my way to heaven, I've experienced God's grace, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And you say, I'm on my way to heaven, and so I know that sometimes the gospel is presented and it's not real clear, and sometimes they try to add baptism to it, or church membership, or giving, or good works, and these kinds of things. And I know that's not how you do it, but it's not anything really to cause a ruckus about. And it is something to cause a ruckus about. Paul said that in Galatians chapter 1. He says, if an angel from heaven or anyone else preaches any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be accursed. So these Judaizers had come down and they started infiltrating this church. These churches, these local New Testament churches. And so the preachers got together. And if you look here in verse, let's pick up in verse 7, but contrary wise, Galatians 2, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was to Peter, in other words, Paul's writing here, he was primarily preaching to Gentiles, non-Jews, and Peter was primarily reaching the Jew. So they were getting together. And it says here, for he that wrought affectionately in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles. In other words, the same God that called Paul is the one who called Peter. And that's something that's so marvelous about God's work. The same God that called me to preach called someone else to teach. Call someone else to work in some other area of ministry. And so it's not that we're more special because we have a more heightened position as such, a more forefront, we're in the light, so to speak. No. Anytime God uses us, it's an honor, it's a privilege, and we will receive the same reward as the next guy, as we live in obedience, amen, to that call. So here we find that they're both called, verse 9, and when James, Cephas, that's Peter, and John, who seem to be pillars perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me in Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision." So here we find James, and Peter, and John, those three special disciples. You know that tells me that you can be as close to God as you want to be. There were many believers in that day and time. There were twelve disciples, and out of those twelve, one was a traitor, But then there were three that just always went a little further than the others. Isn't that something? You can be as close to God as you want to be. John could have been with the others, but he says, no, I'm sticking to Jesus like glue. No matter what, I'm going to be next to Him. I'm going to be close to Him. How close are you to the Lord Jesus Christ today? Quit making excuses. We need to stop the excuse making. We need to quit blaming society. They had a wicked society. They were in captivity for the most part. The Romans invaded their land. They were in slavery, many of them. Right? And yet, they served the Lord Jesus Christ. We're without excuse. But here we find that John was an active part in helping the local church work. In 1 Timothy 3, the last part of verse 15, it says, The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Are you a support? Are you a help for the truth of the Word of God today? As Ephesians tells us in chapter 6, having done all, are you standing? And one thing you see about John, even after Jesus has ascended up to heaven, John says, hey, I've got a job to do. And he did what he could to make a difference and to stand for the truth of the Word of God. And time and time again as we go through 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, especially 2nd and 3rd John, it talks about the truth, the truth, the truth. Well, Jesus' Word is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by Him." So you see where we need to stand for the truth. Amen? We need to be a pillar of support. The foundation's been laid. Can people count on us? As much as we don't like the reputation of the local church, the reputation of the local church is the reputation of the people in that local church. And we need to make sure that the reputation to a lost and dying world is squeaky clean, so to speak. In other words, we need to live right. We need to live holy. But you say, Pastor, I'm still trying to grow in my faith and there's some struggles I have. And I say this so often, and Jesus knows it and teaches it in His Word, and we'll see it as we get into this. Yes, we are imperfect, but instead of excusing that, we need to deal with it. And we need to be conformed to the image of Christ. But when people search for the truth today, when they search for fullness of joy, they ought to be able to look to the pillar and ground of the truth, the local church. They ought to be able to look to the members of the local church and say they stand for the truth. What a man. What a man John is. But as it says about Elijah, he's a man subject to like passions as we are. But he was available and he was usable. Are you available? Are you usable?